It Came From The Man Cave!: Twas the Night Before Bah Humbug

Twas the Night Before Bah Humbug

Twas The Night Before Christmas
1977 | TV-G | 60 Min | Holiday | ABC

Director: Tim Kiley

Writers: Dick Clair, Jenna McMahon

Stars:

Paul Lynde

Foster Brooks

Alice Ghostley

'Twas the Night Before Christmas is a Christmas television special loosely inspired by the 1823 poem "A Visit from St. Nicholas" by Clement Clarke Moore. It first aired December 7, 1977, on ABC.

The story is set on Christmas Eve in a New England town in the late 1890s. The Cosgrove family's home is in an uproar over the holidays. Clark Cosgrove is frazzled by the gift demands of his loud children. His wife Nellie runs into endless friction with Clark's formidable mother, who lives with them. Nellie's inebriated father and cat-loving mother arrive for the holiday, and tensions arise between the mothers-in-law. A German uncle has also arrived, but complications ensue when a traveling salesman is mistaken for the uncle. Adding to the tumult is a visit from a caroling neighbor (Anson Williams).

During the night, Clark's mother-in-law's cat escapes from the house and winds up on the roof. Clark goes to retrieve the cat and creates a ruckus, waking the house. When the children ask if the noise came from Santa Claus, Clark initially wants to dispel the myth of Santa Claus. Instead, he appeases them by reciting A Visit from St. Nicholas.

'Twas the Night Before Christmas was part of a series of ABC television specials starring Paul Lynde. Most notably the 1976 production of The Paul Lynde Halloween Special, relied on a sketch comedy revue format, 'Twas the Night Before Christmas retained a narrative format where Lynde and his castmates remained in character for the entire show. Lynde's casting as a relatively straight, dramatic lead fulfilled a longstanding wish of his for more serious roles.

This is so hard to watch Paul comes off as one big A-Hole! This special was so poorly received by both critics and the public - placing #30 in the Nielsen ratings - that it was never re-broadcast nor made available on VHS or DVD. Thanks to someone out there holding on to there old VHS struck gold by finding and posting this one to YouTube for the rest of us to see. Sadly the magic of the Halloween special was missing, leaving us with a lump of coal. I will leave a link below for the show so you can be the judge but you have been warned this one is a clinker!